Rolling Stone: Scott Bessent Compares Trump’s Qatari Jet Gift to the Statue of Liberty

It’s not the same

No, Qatar‘s royal family gifting a $400 million Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet known as a “flying palace” to the government that will reportedly then go to Donald Trump‘s presidential library is not the same as France giving the Statue of Liberty to the American people. But that is what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tried to claim on Sunday.

“Even if Qatar isn’t asking for anything in return now for the jet, I mean, that’s a bill that could come due,” Jake Tapper, host of CNN’s State of the Union said to Bessent. “Nobody… just gives a $400 million jet just to be nice.”

“Well, I don’t know, Jake,” Bessent said. “The French gave us the Statue of Liberty. The British gave us the Resolute Desk. I’m not sure they asked for anything in advance.”

Trump’s bozos are just too dense to get it!

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/bessent-trump-qatar-statue-of-liberty-1235342112

Telegraph: ‘It’s open season for corruption’: How Trump turned the White House into a cash cow

Naked profiteering by the US president and his family has triggered alarm bells in the Maga movement

Most.

Corrupt.

President

Ever!

Donald Trump caught his first sight of the so-called “palace in the sky” in February as he climbed the red-carpeted steps of the Boeing 747-8.

The Qatari plane was parked at Florida’s West Palm Beach International Airport, and offered a chance for the president to see what a newly refitted Air Force One could look like, easing his frustration with the long-delayed Boeing project.

In the event, it appears to have been more of a test drive. His administration’s plan to accept the $400m (£300m) luxury jet from the Qatari royal family, which he is expected to use after his presidency, is the latest example of what many view as an increased disregard for ethics in Washington under his second term.

During his first term in the White House, foreign governments buying meals and block-booking rooms at Trump hotels set alarm bells ringing.

Yet now the president has created even more opportunities for those looking to curry favour with him – and his children. From pay-to-dine cryptocurrency schemes, a new social media platform that carries advertising and the expansion of their property empire, it has never seemed easier for the Trump family to line their pockets.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/18/trump-turned-white-house-cash-machine

Bloomberg: Iran’s Khamenei Brands Trump a Liar in Escalation of Rhetoric

“Some of the remarks made during the US president’s trip to the region aren’t even worth responding to,” Khamenei said. “The level of the statements is so low that they are a source of shame for the speaker and a source of shame for the American people.”

Even the world’s worst ogre gets one right every now & then!

https://archive.is/IUjpG#selection-1509.0-1509.254

Defense News: What’s wrong with Trump accepting a 747 from Qatar? Everything

As secretary of the Air Force, I was frustrated by Boeing’s failure to deliver the new Air Force One aircraft on time.

I can understand that President Trump would like a new aircraft, painted as he desires and available for use during his term in office. I cannot understand his willingness to accept the “gift” of a luxuriously appointed, used Boeing 747 from Qatar.

It is wrong to accept this gift from any perspective.

Read the rest of the article for a lengthy discussion of “any perspective”.

https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/2025/05/16/whats-wrong-with-trump-accepting-a-747-from-qatar-everything

The Wrap: Lawrence O’Donnell Says Trump Is ‘Famously Too Stupid’ to Keep His Stories Straight on Qatari Jet Gift | Video

Lawrence O’Donnell mocked Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying that the president is “famously too stupid” to present a convincing argument of why he’s accepting a $400 million jet from Qatar.

“The first line of Donald Trump’s exclamation-point defense of accepting that plane tonight is: ‘The Boeing 747 is being given to the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, not to me!,'” O’Donnell noted, quoting the president’s post on Truth Social.

He then played a clip of Trump telling Fox News host Sean Hannity that he was accepting the gift personally and not on behalf of the Air Force, using the phrase, “Why wouldn’t I accept the gift?”

“He didn’t say anything about the Air Force accepting a gift there. [He said], Why shouldn’t I accept a gift?'”

O’Donnell went on to say, “Donald Trump is, of course, famously too stupid to keep his conspiracy story straight. The man is just too stupid to observe the theory of the conspiracy and say to Sean Hannity, ‘My attitude is, why shouldn’t the Air Force accept a gift?'”

https://www.thewrap.com/lawrence-odonnell-donald-trump-too-stupid-qatari-jet-video

Daily Beast: Pence Fears Terrorist Link to Trump’s $400 Million Qatar Plane Gift

Former Vice President Mike Pence has urged President Donald Trump to reject Qatar‘s offer of a $400 million jumbo jet to replace Air Force One amid fears it could jeopardize the commander-in-chief’s safety.

In an interview with Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, Pence said he was concerned that Qatar supports Hamas, and that the Arab kingdom has supported Al Qaeda.

“But Qatar has a long history of playing both sides,” he continued. “They support Hamas. They supported Al Qaeda. Qatar has actually financed pro-Hamas protests on American campuses across the United States.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pence-fears-terrorist-link-to-trumps-400-million-qatar-plane-gift

Daily Mail: Donald Trump complains Air Force One ‘much smaller and less impressive’ than Middle East planes

‘The plane that you are on right now is almost 40 years old,’ Trump remarked, referring to Air Force One and noting that the Boeing planes purchased by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar were ‘brand new 747s.’

‘You see ours next to it. This is like a totally different plane. It’s much smaller and less impressive, as impressive as it is,’ Trump said. ‘We are the United States of America I believe we should have the most impressive plane.’

The 747-8 offered by the Qataris is considered more fuel efficient and quiet but it is most notable for it’s luxurious interior, designed by famed French design firm Alberto Pinto Cabinet. 

King Donald appears to be suffering an acute case of Boeing envy.

Only the best for His Majesty, the Emir of Washington!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14709689/donald-trump-air-force-one-qatar-gift-middle-east.html

Mediaite: Trump Confronted on Air Force One by NY Times Over $2 Billion Crypto Deal

President Donald Trump was confronted aboard Air Force One by New York Times White House reporter Jonathan Swan over a $2 billion foreign deal that’s being paid for with Trump crypto.

Trump is currently on a four-day swing through the Persian Gulf region with stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, which has been dogged by the controversy over his eager acceptance of a $400 million “flying palace” from Qatar to serve as Air Force One.

The trip has also drawn attention to Trump’s family businesses, including the cryptocurrency firm World Liberty Financial.

That company’s USD1 currency was selected by state-owned UAE firm MGX to pay for a $2 billion investment in Binance earlier this month. The deal was announced by WLF co-founder Zach Witkoff, son of Trump Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff.

Trump plays dumb:

JONATHAN SWAN: An Emirati government-backed firm did a $2 billion deal using the Trump digital coins. How did that deal come about?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don’t know anything about it. I really don’t know anything about it. But I’m a big crypto fan, I will tell you. I’ve been that from the beginning, right from the campaign. I’m a believer in crypto.

Mirror: CNN abruptly halts broadcast for breaking news about Trump’s ‘wrong’ gift from Saudi Arabia

Nonetheless, [Erin] Burnett on CNN assailed the act as blatantly inappropriate, likening it to the “modern definition of a Trojan horse.”

Lambasting Trump’s choice to take the plane, the news anchor declared: “Let’s be honest here, the President of the United States has no business accepting a plane for anything and from anyone. It is not political.”

She went on to argue that this situation was evidently black-and-white, concluding boldly: “Because this is something that is actually an easy call. It’s wrong. But Trump’s team will circle the wagons, it seems, on pretty much anything.

https://www.themirror.com/entertainment/cnn-abruptly-halts-broadcast-breaking-1150472

New York Times: As White House Steers Justice Dept., Bondi [Bimbo #3] Embraces Role of TV Messenger

Attorney General Pam Bondi [Bimbo #3] has adopted a conspicuously performative approach, willing to execute White House directives with little fuss.

Pam Bondi [Bimbo #3], the attorney general of the United States, circled the Roosevelt Room in late February, handing out bulky white binders labeled “Epstein Files: Phase 1” to a conclave of Trump-allied influencers summoned to the White House for their first visit.

That Ms. Bondi [Bimbo #3], the nation’s top law enforcement official, would prioritize a case of importance primarily to conspiracy theorists was telling. Anxious to appease the restive MAGA base, she hyped the disclosure as “breaking news” on Fox the night before, part of an effort to fulfill President Trump’s campaign promise to reveal new details on the financier Jeffrey Epstein’s misdeeds and death.

It was a dud. There were “no bombshells,” she said, according to one of those invited.

Later, activists on the right lashed out at Ms. Bondi [Bimbo #3]. She responded by blaming others, and then dispatched F.B.I. agents and prosecutors from the Justice Department’s national security division to scour the archives, officials familiar with the situation said. They found little. No one knows when Phase 2 is coming. But it is not likely to amount to much, those people said.

Since taking office as U.S. attorney general in early February, she has adopted a conspicuously performative approach to survive inside a Trump cabinet that rewards self-promotion, ritualized public flattery and, above all, a willingness to execute White House directives with little fuss.

Over the last few days, Ms. Bondi [Bimbo #3] signed off on Mr. Trump’s acceptance of a luxury Boeing 747-8 plane upgraded to serve as Air Force One donated by the Qatari royal family, which raised a host of ethical and legal questions. As a lobbyist, Ms. Bondi [Bimbo #3] herself received six-figure consulting fees from Qatar.

But her approach represents a noticeable departure from that of her predecessors at the Justice Department who saw themselves, to varying degrees, as guardians of institutional independence, attentive but not beholden to the presidency.

https://archive.is/fr5Xq#selection-4629.132-4629.368